SEEMO registered 684 violations in 2011 and noted that the source of threats and pressures was diverse, including politicians; business groups, often linked to mafia-style business dealings and others.

The Norway-based Fritt Ord Foundation (Freedom of Expression Foundation) and the German-based ZEIT Foundation have put out a call for nominations for awards to support press freedom and independent media in Eastern Europe. Newspapers, Internet media and journalists from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan and the South Caucasus who strive to promote a free press, free speech and liberal civil societies are eligible to apply.

More from Europe & Central Asia

This study examines the existence of criminal defamation and insult laws in the territory of the 57 participating States of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). In doing so, it offers a broad, comparative overview of the compliance of OSCE participating States’ legislation with international standards and best practices in the field of defamation law and freedom of expression.

Violence against journalists in Europe increased in the second quarter of 2016, reports submitted to Index on Censorship’s Mapping Media Freedom platform show, as a government crackdown in Turkey intensified and protests turned violent in countries from France to Finland.

In recent years, the space afforded to civil society to operate freely has been shrinking dramatically across the world, presenting a serious threat to democracy and human rights. Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) have been especially badly affected by this shrinking political space.

Nations in Transit 2013 is Freedom House’s comprehensive, comparative study of democratic development in 29 countries from Central Europe to Eurasia. This edition covers the period from January 1 through December 31, 2012 and measures progress according to the following indicators: electoral process, civil society, independent media, national democratic governance, local democratic governance, judicial framework and independence, and corruption.

IFEX publishes original and member-produced free expression news and reports. Some member content has been edited by IFEX. We invite you to contact [email protected] to request permission to reproduce or republish in whole or in part content from this site.

Get more stories like this

Sign up for our newsletters and get the most important free expression news delivered to your inbox.